France TV Sport – one of many broadcasters to have descended on London for coverage of the 2012 Olympic games – has gone all-LED by implementing numerous ETC Source Four LED profile spotlights at its temporary studio on the north bank of the river Thames.
For the duration of the games, the division of France Television has rented 48 ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ Zoom 25-50º luminairs from French-based light, sound and video rental company, Dushow.
Energy efficiency was high on the list of priorities as there is only a limited amount of power available to the company. ETC distributors for France, Avab Transtechnik, demonstrated the Source Four solution, which was then selected by the broadcasters.
“The presenters sit in front of a window with Tower Bridge in the background, which could have been our biggest challenge – we need enough lighting to avoid them being silhouetted, even with the bright light behind them,” explains Forian Alllain, Dushow’s technical director. “But the Source Four LEDs are really powerful, providing a light bright enough to keep the directors back in France happy.”
Allain adds: “We were also impressed by the colour mixing – the 7-colour system in the fixtures means we can always get exactly the colour and skin tones we need. We had already experienced this with the Selador Classic Lustr we have in our inventory.”
The ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ was designed to offer a wide range of colours, from high-intensity whites to soft tints and supple, vibrant colours. It can move smoothly from one colour to another, and also produce an adjustable white light which flatters any skin tone, either in person or on screen.
For France TV, the directing and vision mixing is all performed from the channel’s main studios in Paris. Source Four LEDs can also be controlled directly from the panel on the rear of the fixtures themselves. And up to nine fixtures can be linked together via the power in/through Powercon connectors to save on rigging time.
